Penguin Showrunner Lauren LeFranc discussed Sofia Falcone’s (Cristin Milioti) backstory Thursday morning at the opening day of New York Comic Con.
“I was inspired by Rosemary Kennedy’s story,” LeFranc said. “She’s the forgotten Kennedy daughter, and she came from a very well-to-do family, of course, a very renowned family. Her father put her in an institution, and she was given a lobotomy. And we don’t know what her story was.”
Last Sunday’s fourth episode of Penguin revealed the character’s origin in an installment entirely about Sofia.
“So, for me, in digging deeper into these characters and trying to put my own spin on things,” LaFranc continued, “thinking about a character like Sofia, in bringing her into the world, in what would make her interesting or dynamic — you know, a character that I wished I had when I was younger — I wanted to relate her to something that felt very real. And so I did think about Rosemary Kennedy and thought, what would it be like if I could have my version of Sofia come out of Arkham State Hospital, but she was innocent?”
This story of the forgotten Kennedy sister played a pivotal role in shaping Sofia’s character, according the showrunner.
“And what would that make her become?” LaFranc wondered. “How could she still be like this thrilling, dynamic, scary, complicated, flawed person if she didn’t start out that way? Because I think, in the comics, so many characters have origins already damaged or mental illness or something. And not to make that excuse either, but for us to empathize and deeply understand that. So that was the thing that was really important to me.”
